Movies I've seen lately

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 6:38 am

Saw Minority Report last Friday - what a crappy movie! I had the extremely stereotypical plot figured out before halfway through and the rest of the movie was just as bad. Thinking about it, I can't say a single good thing about that movie. And the sentimental ending was just to much, it made me wanna puke! I haven't been so disappointed in ages, as it actually managed to get some good reviews here in Sweden. Should have gone for the book instead - anyone read it?

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 6:43 am

Well I agree with Astafas. I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but did anyone esle notice that the ships used looked like the ones from Star Wars used by the bounty hunter chap?

Slave-1 I think thats the name.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:00 am

Originally posted by Tamerlane
Well I agree with Astafas. I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but did anyone esle notice that the ships used looked like the ones from Star Wars used by the bounty hunter chap?

Bobo Fett?

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:02 am

Yep, thats the guy.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:26 am

Originally posted by Astafas
Thinking about it, I can't say a single good thing about that movie. And the sentimental ending was just to much, it made me wanna puke! I haven't been so disappointed in ages, as it actually managed to get some good reviews here in Sweden. Should have gone for the book instead - anyone read it?

Did you go into the movie with any preconceptions due to the reviews?

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:33 am

Originally posted by Morlock
Why are you leaving me hanging like this?

Hehe.

I'd like to say it's because I'm evil, but actually I was away for the weekend and only just got around to it...

Anyway, Minority Report... I actually thought it was good... for the first half. Spielberg does owe a bit of a debt to Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick, and probably other sci-fi directors (I'm not too familiar with them)... but it's mostly Spielberg, and it's cinematically brilliant. The only problem I had on that level was that it would have been better to stick to the noir thriller kind of atmosphere - it had too many comedy moments, which spoiled the atmosphere somewhat.

The other big problem I have with it is pretty much what Astafas says - the plot. I liked it right up to the Leo Crow scene where IMO it should have ended. Without any spoilers... suffice to say that it was intriguing until this point, and then it went into a predictable conspiracy plot and got all schmaltzy... "there's so much love in this house"?!? Please.

The ending ties everything up far too neatly, and there's really nothing original about it. A shame, because it ruined what was a great film until that point.

@Sleep don't you mean Boba Fett?

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 9:28 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

Did you go into the movie with any preconceptions due to the reviews?

I don't think so. My expectations were perhaps to great, though.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 9:36 am

I liked Minority Report. Sure, the murder-mystery part was pretty transparent about half way through the movie, but in terms of concept, it was pretty good. I thought Spielberg's big-brother image of the future was exceptionally well-done; not only was the government, but advertisers were taking away our privacy and "personalising" products and media outlets for us. Tom Cruise was surprisingly good as Anderton; the only character he's truly done well was the smirking Maverick, and in his dramatic roles, he's usually bad (ie-Far and Away, Eyes Wide Shut, etc.). The ending was hokey (I could have done without the voice-over) but it was good to see a Spielberg movie with a flawed protagonist.

Dottie · Post by **Dottie** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 5:50 pm

Watched Citizen Kane today. Yeah I know its considered a classic and that I should have seen it before, but anyway...

This was probably one of the most dissapointing movies I've ever seen. I cant at all understand why as liked as it is... If I understood it correctly its suppsed to be some statement about what money can buy, but the plot is utterly boring and in addition you have to suffer through atempts of "humor" every now and then. In the entire first half of the movie every scene also gives a silly and chaotic impression.

Would be happy if anyone explaines exactly whats so great about this one, Is there some historic reason? Or am I just incapable of understanding the true meaning of it?

Thank god movie culture have evolved since back then...

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 7:12 pm

@Astafas: I hope you don't take it personaly if I see the film despite your review- most people who saw it appear to have liked it.

@Georgi: Why must you torture me so? first you make me wait 2 days before giving your respone, then you give a small and not very informative post.

@Dottie: I totaly agree.
I saw it for the first time last year- people must have been really dumb in 1942.
I shound note that I thought the same of Casablanca if that affects your judgment.

My opinion is that the mvvie is terrible, dull and badly written. Although I'm sure that if I hadn't heard anything about it before I saw it, it would have been much better. Though it being "The best movie ever made" leaves you with high expectations.

Now, despite my disliking of these two classics, don't think of me as someone who hates oldies- I loved 'It's a wonderful life', 'It happened one night', 'On the Waterfront'.
I liked 'The Great Dictator', and right now I'm in the middle of a Billy Wilder catchup. I saw and loved 'Some like it hot', I liked, but was slightly disapointed by 'The Apartment', I just today saw and loved 'Stalag 17' and in the next couple of days plan on seeing 'Sunset Blvd.'.

Now- onto 'Movies I've seen lately'

Heat
A very short summery: A Michael Mann (The insider, Ali) movie, starring Robert Deniro as an expert thief and Al Pacino as the detective chasing him.
I saw it before, but bairly remembered it.

It is a very good movie.
It's long- but it's aware of the fact tha it's long, so it gives a good scene exactly when your thinking 'God, I have to suffer another X hours for this BS?'

It has a few great action scenes, and, more surprisingly for an action movie- a few good quiet and calm scenes.

The action is done amazingly well.
Take the scene where Deniro is suppose to get money from Van Zant's guy. To set it for you- it's Deniro in a car in the drivers seat, alone. The other guy is in a van to Denrio's right. Now, the audience was told that this meeting is a sham- so we're not surprised when we see a guy creeping out of the van and aproaching to the front of Deniro's car with a gun in his hand. Than we see Val Kilmer, Deniro's partner with a snipers gun nearby. He warns Deniro, who in turn reverses and crushes the man between the two vehicles. The van takes off, with Kilmer trying to shoot the driver. About this time we're thinking- 'Why are only two of them there?' and, sure enough, there comes Tom Seizmore behind the corner and takes out the driver.

I did this terribly, I know, but my point was that it was perfect timing that Seizmore appears just as you were thinking where he was.

anyway- stuff I wrote down:

Deniro's neatly trimmed beard adds a lot to the character. It adds profesionalism and expirience to his look.

The best scene in the movie is when Deniro and Pacino share a quiet moment in a resturaunt. The movie sets up the characters in a way that it makes sence that they'd meet on friendly terms. They both admire and respect the other, and speak like 'If you would have taken a differen course in life, we would have been best friends'.

An interesting note on that- Deniro and Pacino have been in 2 movies together and have only been on screen at the same time for 50 seconds. They have been in 5 scenes together- that's 18 1/2 minutes in the almost six hours of both movies.

I think Al Pacino is too old to be in a sex scene. I was actualy looking away in disgust.

It was strange to see Ted Levine as the cop- as the character of 'Buffalo Bill' from Silence of the lambs is one that sticks to you. The second I heard his voice, before seeing him, I said to myself 'Jame Gumb!'

I hated the love story. They were really pushing it.

I loved Al's line: 'These guys are good.... they're really good. You now what they're looking at? us!'

A good movie with great action scenes.

Overall movie score: 7/10
Action scenes score: 9/10
If your'e confused: SEE IT!

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 5:11 am

Just to add a little bit about Heat, Val Kilmer is actually quite decent, i remember being surprised at how effective he was.

I did see the original of this that isn't quite as good, it did however show promise, i think the cast as much as the directing let it down.

I agree about the restaurant scene, it is the best part of the movie, pretty much everyone agrees

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 8:28 am

Originally posted by Morlock
@Georgi: Why must you torture me so? first you make me wait 2 days before giving your respone, then you give a small and not very informative post.

Why must I ramble on for ages about it to satisfy you?

It's not like you don't already know what it's about etc... so what exactly are you expecting me to say?

I did think of a couple of things I forgot to mention: the effects were good (but that's kind of covered by the cinematics comment), and the future world that Spielberg creates is very well done (as HLD said). The other thing that I figure you'll probably lynch me for not mentioning

D) is John Williams' score - which didn't really sound much like a Williams' score to me, with no big triumphant theme as they usually do. Most of the places where the music is particularly noticeable, I think it's not actually Williams' score, which was more in the background - not that that's a bad thing.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 5:48 pm

Georgi: I didn't think you'd mention it. Everyone, including Williams and Spielberg said the score was the kind complementing the movie, not stand alone. There are no absolutly no themes in the movie, as opposed to 'Harry Potter' for example, which was made entirly of themes.
I can't comment on the score, as neither the movie nor the CD have come out here. Though I'm going to the US on the 21st.

PS- your job is to give your every thought about every movie you see, not talk back!

I just saw The Poseidon Adventure.

Very basic plot- a ship, the USS Poseiden is struck by a tidle wave on New Year's and is totaly turned upside down. A group of ten people decide to try to make there way through the ship to the hull, where they'll be rescued.

I'm assuming the rules are off regarding spoilers on a 30 year old movie, but just in case- there are major spoilers!

I've heard about it over the years, and finding out that John Williams did the music convinced me. Although that was 4 months ago, My DVD place just got it.

No matter what was people said, I was still expecting a B type movie. I was seriously wrong.
I thought it was a great movie. Well done, the only thing I found that didn't look real were the scenes of the boat on top water, since it was obviously a model. But that is a miniscule part of it. The visiual effects were very good, especialy concidering it was made in 1972. It even won a special achievement oscar for the effects.

OK- now here are my unorganized notes and thoughts which you love so much

The movie starts very oddly- it starts with a full view of the ship, no credits, no sound, no music- just the ship, and after a few seconds the credits start. This may not make sense- but you'll know what I mean if you see it.

There are tons and tons of nick o' time escapes, but that's understandible and excusable in a disaster movie.

It gets very confusing that the ship is upside down, but whenever you try to find a flaw, you realise that it is really all correctly done for it to be upside down. The only possible exception I found was that a latter shouldn't have been in a certain place, but I'm not sure. IMDB had nothing like that in their goofs section.

I thought the scene where the ship turns over and the aftermath were done extraordinarily well.

I think the water was too clear. I also wonder how they kept their eyes open for a minute underwater.

I don't think they should have killed off Hackman. And especialy not by making him killing himself.

This is the first place I've seen Shelly Winters, and I never knew she acted such jewish characters that even said a prayer in hebrew!

It is pretty far-fetched to make her a save-the-day-hero, but the fact that she dies doing it redeems(SP) it.

Hackman was great. I especialy liked when they showed his attitude wasn't always right, like when he accused Ernest Borgnine of not saving Roddy McDowall, when Borgnine jumped into the water looking for McDowall.

I think the music was perfect, but not the melodic kind of score John excelled at later in his career (Well, it is a disaster movie after all!).
Some of the pieces sound like obvious precursers to Jaws, the only other good sea based movie that I've seen (except of course for Waterworld!

).
So John has mastered another genre!

One of the very few A class disaster movies (even nominated for best picture), and I'm sure one of, if not the, best one.

8/10

The Z · Post by **The Z** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 9:03 pm

(About Minority Report)
The last 2 Spielberg movies I saw (A.I., Minority Report), the ending sequences were unnecessary. In A.I., I thought he didn't need the happy ending. And Minority Report should've ended with John being imprisoned. I guess Spielberg thought that every movie needs a happy ending for those two movies.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 3:45 am

Originally posted by The Z
And Minority Report should've ended with John being imprisoned. I guess Spielberg thought that every movie needs a happy ending for those two movies.

Please in the future give spoiler warning. Although you didn't say what did happen to him, you ruled out a possibility for me in the movie I've been anticipating most in years.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 6:00 pm

Originally posted by Morlock
PS- your job is to give your every thought about every movie you see, not talk back!

Hey, I just don't have many thoughts... I can't help it!

@Z Tch tch, and after I was so careful not to include any spoilers about Minority Review... shame on you!

Though @Morlock did you ever see a Spielberg movie without a happy ending?

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 4:17 am

Well I'd vouch for Hook

, but seriously his WW2 project Saving Private Ryan didn't exactly have a happy ending.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 6:15 am

Originally posted by Tamerlane
Well I'd vouch for Hook, but seriously his WW2 project Saving Private Ryan didn't exactly have a happy ending.

Hmmm... I can't actually remember the end of Saving Private Ryan.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Fri Jul 12, 2002 6:18 am

Originally posted by Georgi
Hmmm... I can't actually remember the end of Saving Private Ryan.

It's not happy.

Spoiler Warning:
Captain Miller and the rest all die. Ryan lives. Before he dies, Miller tells Ryan, "You didn't earn this." Flash-forward to the US military cemetary in Normandy. The older Ryan, surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren, breaks into tears at Miller's grave and asks, "Have I been a good person? Have I led a good life?" (or something to that effect).

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 3:14 pm

I've just seen Wall Street.

I thought it was a pretty good movie, with two terrible lead actors, and one great one.

I think Charley Sheen streched his annoyingness to the limit in this one

.

I've stated befor how I hated Derryl Hannah, and I stick by it. I found it hard to look at her, much less listen to her.

Micheal Douglas delivered his best role (and only really good one IMO) as Gekko. It's hard for me to specify, but he really nailed it.

I liked the scenes with Terrence Stamp, alyhough him saying 'Mate' all the time was really annoying.

Altogether the scenes I liked most were he ones when they were actualy buying and selling stock, and when Sheen was tricking Douglas with Stamp.

7.5/10

I also saw Jurrasic Park: The Lost World.
I got it for the 'making of' featurette on the DVD, which are always great on the Spielberg films, irrelevent of whether or not the film was good.

The movie is obviously pretty bad (although not as bad as 3), but it had it's good parts.

First of all, Pete Posletwaite was great, as he always is. I've really come to love his work, especialy in 'The Usual Suspects', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'In the name of the father'.

I think it was a terrible idea to change Jeff Goldblum into a normal person. His likability in the original was based only on his wierd theoris and lines.

I really don't like Julliane Moore, I just wish she could lose her annoying accent for once.

I thought the ending was terrible, right out of 'King Kong'.

I thought the music was terrific, although didn't surpass the original.

My score of the movie is pretty negitive, but I can't bring myself to give a bad score to a Spielberg/Williams movie.
Take what you want from that.